[quote]My own suspicion is that the "Glimmer" represent a non-corporeal "demonic" or unknown and unknowable alien (delete for preference) agency in the Destiny universe. Deprived of a means to directly, physically and malevolently intervene in humanities affairs they attempt to influence matters through the possession/manipulation of the other alien races (excepting the Vex who, by their very nature as machines, cannot be used in this fashion). Perhaps, if indeed they represent the existential threat to humanity, they were once capable of direct physical manifestation. Did they wage a genocidal war against us in all our guises at the height of the Golden Age? Are they sustained or nourished by fear and terror? Were they of a magnitude of power that it took the sacrifice of the Traveler to halt them? It's possible that their motivations will remain incomprehensible and outside the scope of our understanding (Lovecraftian influence perchance?). Unbodied and retreating to the moon they are now, reduced yet still terrible, reaching once again towards humanity.[/quote] What I posted in the linked thread.